Nigeria Governors Forum call for emergency meeting over LG Autonomy

Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has announced that the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) has scheduled an emergency meeting over Supreme Court’s recent decision granting autonomy to Local Government Councils in the country.

Topnaija.ng recalls that on Thursday, the supreme court ruled that it is unconstitutional for state governors to withhold funds designated for local government administrations.

The landmark judgement, delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, emphasized that this practice contravenes the financial autonomy rights of local governments and has persisted for over two decades.

Following a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the State House on Thursday, Soludo praised the court’s ruling as a democratic milestone. He emphasized the importance of respecting the judiciary’s authority and the rule of law.

Soludo stressed the necessity of ensuring resources reach the grassroots level and highlighted the importance of accountability and transparency in public resource utilization. He emphasized that public funds should benefit citizens at all levels—federal, state, and local.

Nigeria Governors Forum call for emergency meeting over LG Autonomy

Reacting to the ruling, he said, “That’s great. I mean, the Supreme Court is Supreme because it is the final authority and I am a Democrat. I believe in the rule of law. Once the Supreme Court has spoken it has spoken. I understand, I mean, tonight, I think the Governors Forum is meeting to review this.

“We’re yet to even… I mean, I haven’t seen the document myself. I’ve been extremely, very busy all through the day but I’ve seen snippets of it.

“But at a fundamental level, yes, we need resources to get down to the real grassroot and we need the people’s money to work for them at all levels, whether at the federal or the state and the local government.

“We need to promote accountability. We need to promote transparency in the utilization of public resources at all levels, to be able to lift the burden of the common man”.

Recall that the Supreme Court of Nigeria had on Thursday, declared as unconstitutional the situation where State Governors stifle funds meant for the LGs.

The feat achieved was made possible when the Federal Government dragged the state governors to court to compel them to hands-off local government administration in the country and face their tasks squarely as governors.